Am I better off today, than I was last year?

No, but I am not worse off.. I am about the same.
It took some adjusting. But we were in the downsizing
last year anyway. So that made it easier for us.

As with everyone else, our biggest item is gas.
In the past we have always used our gas card
as a debit card. Meaning we forward paid the
card. If it was $97 (ha ha, those days are gone),
then I paid $197. So we would be using our own
money. That way there is no interest. And when
we got the bill, it would be a credit or a very low
amount where we might have gone over a few
dollars. Now it is still a low amount but higher
than before. And the amount per month is half
as much more than what we used last year.

We sat down at the beginning of the King's
retirement last year, and went thru what we
paid out per month.

We got rid of things we did not need.
Like cable television. You would
be surprised how having only two channels is
not a hardship. That there are many programs
that you can rent from Netflix.

Yes, we gave up eating out. Now it is a real
treat instead of no big deal. And we are
eating healthier because of it. We use to
eat out about 3 times a month. Now we go
3 months before we go out. And we eat before
the 4 o'clock change over to dinner prices.

Our traveling is day trips. Most of them
very local. And if we have to make a trip
to Spokane Valley or Coeur d' Alene, we
not only take care of business, but we
do something fun while we are there.

We froze our credit card, literally. We
would have gotten rid of it, but kept it
incase of an emergency. It is nice not
to have a bill for it. We down sized to
it and the gas card only. We don't use
the Costco, unless it gas because it
is up to 20 cents cheaper than ours.
But we have no other store cards, and we
are doing well.

We budget everything. I can tell you
where our monthly money is going to
go before the income comes in.
We still eat well, but healthier. We
still have a roof over our head, we
still have our vehicles and they are
paid for.

When we bought our house we did it
on a fixed interest rate. We bought a
house that even if we lost our job, we
could still afford it as it, as the payment
was less than our rent we had paid.

Maybe coming from the parents of
the depression, and living on little
to nothing as a kid, we don't feel
like we are deprived. Tight yes,
impossible, no.